About UsPatchwork Green is a ridge top farm overlooking the beautiful Canoe Creek valley several miles north of Decorah, Iowa. After market gardening for several years, we were able to purchase our 40-acre farm and quickly developed five acres into annual vegetable production. The garden is surrounded by restored prairie and oak woods, and we enjoy bordering the heirloom production gardens of Seed Savers Exchange.

While Sara focuses her attention on her elementary students and Erik enjoys fiddling around the region with his band, Contratopia, the development of our family-scale vegetable business has been at the heart of our work since moving to De

corah in 1997. Our three daughters love to wash and eat our fresh veggies, and we strive to create a healthy balance of work and play for our kids.

Our patchwork of gardens is worked by our family, a seasonal employee or two, and volunteers, using a small tractor and lots of hand-held tools. We do not use chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides on our farm, choosing instead to grow flavorful, nutritious food using sustainable, natural methods. Because all of our sales are local and we are completely open about our cultural practices, we have opted not to pursue costly and time-consuming Organic Certification. Regular applications of manure and organic compost, a nine year crop rotation scheme and lots of green manur

e cover crops help to rejuvenate, protect and improve our soil. Several recent studies have shown that vegetable and fruit quality, flavor and nutrient content are directly linked to the health of the soil in which it was grown.

As members of the Decorah community, we feel strongly committed to producing good food for our friends and neighbors here in Winneshiek County. All of our produce is marketed close to home, ensuring freshness for our customers, reducing hidden and explicit transportation costs and allowing us more time to devote to quality farming and raising our family.